Fellow Royal Society of Arts
Fellow Royal British Society of Sculptors

The bells

All knowledge becomes silent. A gold rush fever dominates. We readily follow the illusion that they are age-old, dysfunctional pieces.The three bowls lay in the grass, spread out around the edges of the pond. Alongside a puzzling druid staff with a bell-carrying top protrudes from the ground. It is certainly not by chance that this enigmatic ensemble bends obliquely over the water. And seemingly takes a closer look at the green shimmering waves.

The patina of the installation at the watercourse of the Lower Manor is not solely owed to the ravages of time, but rather to Rob Ward’s will instead.That is the way it should be.The verdigris residue unites the individual parts, combines them to form a meticulous mise-en-scène, producing a very special atmosphere on the surface covered in this way.

But no traces, no paths, lead to the mimetic background of these finds. Every interpretation goes wrong, all security is lost.There is no druid in sight and it can no longer be determined if a burning glass or mirror was ever situated on the staff. No triad can sound from the fixed bells that are lacking clappers. And one would probably be better off not putting anything in the green encrusted bowl.

The solution lies in fact on the surface.The objects do not have a solistic mold.Their forms were excavated.The casting site was in the earth that left its imprint with grainy compliance on these sculptures’s skin. Seen in this way, it remains an organic outgrowth of the earth and, like the daisy growing alongside it, it cannot be seen isolated from the earth.